South Daytona backs bath salts sale ban

Council members joined sister city Daytona Beach Shores Tuesday night by passing on first reading, an ordinance prohibiting the sale of herbal incense and bath salt products within the city.

TAYLOR ASHLEYCORRESPONDENT news SOUTH DAYTO

SOUTH DAYTONA — Council members joined sister city Daytona Beach Shores Tuesday night by passing on first reading, an ordinance prohibiting the sale of herbal incense and bath salt products within the city. "It's a growing problem and a horrible situation, kids are dying all over the state,'' said Councilman Ralph Schoenherr, a member of the Urban Administration Committee in Orlando, who described it as a priority situation. ""What we're doing is trying to fill a hole," City Manager Joe Yarbrough. "It isn't forbidding the sale of bath salts if you're not ingesting them.'' Yarbrough said that ideally the city would like to make it criminal, but the ordinance can only make it a code violation. City Attorney Scott Simpson told the council state law lists certain elements as controlled substances so the criminals modify the substances a little bit that make it no longer a controlled substance. Then it is no longer a felony to possess it. "We can't make something criminal; our regulations are code enforcement,'' Simpson said. According to Simpson, state laws and legislation are always in a state of constant catch-up because criminals keep coming up with new ways to get around the law, forcing cities to come up with ways to curtail the activities. The ordinance has been endorsed by the Volusia Council of Governments and has requested that Volusia County cities and the Volusia County School Board adopt resolutions asking the legislature to take strong action during its 2013 legislative session. In July, President Barack Obama signed into law a bill banning synthetic drugs referred to as "bath salts'' and "fake weed.'' The bill targets 31 synthetic stimulant, cannabinoid, and hallucinogenic compounds. Councilwoman Nancy Long was absent from the vote due to a preplanned vacation. In other business the council passed an ordinance on second reading rezoning 3230 S. Ridgewood Ave., from general commercial to planned unit development to make way for the Venetian Apartments, a Mediterranean-style development. Joel Arnold, the Venetian's project engineer, said at a previous meeting that construction of the $21 million 248-unit apartment complex called the Venetian will start by March 2013.